21 Nov
2022
21 Nov
'22
12:34 p.m.
Coincidentally, this has been on my mind lately.
I've been doing #2 mostly, and it's been working fine.
This has gone both for dances recently where there's mostly experienced
dancers, as well as a few one-night-stand gigs I've done where nearly all
dancers were new.
The advantage - as I think it's likely you're aware already but for the
purposes of discussion - is to drill in the "which role is on which side"
which is often where new dancers can get mixed up and then lost. (A
neighbor swing before a progression, for example.)
I've done #3, and I also like this, though it needs a bit more time and
hard to do in 15 or 20 minutes with the other things I'm teaching, people
running late, etc.
But, I can see why you haven't settled on one.
Maybe where I'd leave it is: #3 works well if time, but I'd prefer to do #2
if I have 20 minutes or less so that I don't skimp on reinforcing Left Side
/ Right Side through repetition of moves.
Maybe it's time to think about my beginner lesson in detail again, and
refine it again.
I'll do a think, and - Maia - feel free to ping me off this list if you
want to workshop this a bit.
Best regards,
Julian Blechner
On Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 12:06 PM Becky Liddle via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Besides the things you list, I sometimes mention that
there is a bit more
twirling involved in the robin’s role so if you’re prone to dizziness you
might prefer lark & if you like twirling you might prefer robin.
Becky
On Nov 21, 2022, at 11:55 AM, Maia McCormick via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hey folks,
Calling the occasional gig again after uh, everything, and I'm finally
inspired to iron out a bit of my beginners' lesson that I've always just
fudged in the past: *when calling gender-neutral, how do you have the
beginners pick roles?*
My spiel is generally, "we have these two roles, they're almost entirely
the same with some small differences, pick one and stick with it for a few
dances just to start and then you can try the other if you want, the most
important thing is knowing which role you are for a given dance."
In my lesson, I alternately:
1. say "whoever's standing on the right of this couple right now,
that's the robin" and then teach the swing in those roles
2. tell folks "decide who's the lark and who's the robin" with no
particular context and they pick arbitrarily
3. teach both sides of the swing and let them choose roles based on
which swing feels more comfortable
But it feels clunky and awkward every time.
I'm curious if others have similar experiences, or things they do in their
lessons that feel effective at getting people into one role (for now) with
a minimum of confusion. Hit me with your wisdom!
*Note: this is NOT an invitation to debate whether contra roles should be
gendered, or which set of role terms we should use, or whether we should
use role terms or positional calling. If you must, please make a separate
thread so I can mute it. If such discussion crops up in this thread, I'd
ask people not to respond, or to take responses to a separate thread.
Thanks.*
--
Maia McCormick (she/her)
917.279.8194
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